SPEAKER_00 0:00

So one of the things that I've noticed in the industry really over the past year, maybe two years, is there seems to be like a consolidation going on in the industry where your brokerages are getting larger, the smaller brokerages are becoming less and less, I guess, right? And you're seeing like a real consolidation in the industry.

SPEAKER_03 0:16

As far as like the bigger companies, the franchises and things, yeah, there's been a lot of consolidation. I think you'll see a lot more of that where we're headed. To me, I don't think it's a bad thing. I'm a Remax agent. I've I've led Remax for how many years? Now I love Remax. Remax comes with one of the most successful, recognizable names in the world. Real actually purchased Remax, which was an odd thing to happen. Everybody kind of went, wait, what happened here? Um, with a much smaller company taking over the bigger one. We're each gonna maintain our brand identity, but to me, it's I'll get their technology for us to get our reputation and all of that stuff. I don't think it's a bad thing for anybody. You just have to kind of embrace what's changed. It just brings more services to members, more services to your customers, more services to agents. I mean, I see no downside.

SPEAKER_00 1:02

Welcome to the Studio 321 podcast, powered by Brightway, the Steve Trout Agency. We're sitting down with real estate pros, insurance nerds, mortgage masterminds, and local legends who are making moves on the Space Coast. Hosted by the best insurance crew in the 321. At Studio 321, it's all about community, real connections, and sharing a few laughs along the way. Strap in, let's launch today's episode. Mike Artelli has been selling real estate on the Space Coast for nearly two decades, but his impact goes way beyond the transaction. A Remax Elite agent, born and raised right here in Rockledge, Mike has racked up some of the most significant honors in the industry. Space Coast Realtor of the Year in 2015 and 2019, Remax Hall of Fame in 2021, and Florida Realtor of the Year in 2020, making him the only Space Coast member to ever win that award out of more than 220,000 members statewide. He's also the first Space Coast Realtor to be accepted to and a graduate from NARS Leadership Academy, a past president of the Space Coast Association of Realtors, and currently serves as the director of the local, state, and national level. On top of all that, he's a board member for Bivar Children in Need, a cause close to his heart. Oh, and before real estate, he was managing sunglass huts and headed to college to become a doctor. He took a part-time job in real estate, and the rest is history. Mike Artelli, welcome to the studio.

SPEAKER_03 2:35

Thanks. Here we are, right? I don't like when you say two decades, though. That sounds like a lot of people. I heard that too, and I'm like, oh god, 19 years is away. I don't know that's any better. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 2:44

It's whatever. Age is just such a funny thing because we were just talking about turn 40, and like I don't feel like take us back, man.

SPEAKER_00 2:52

Take us back in time. Young Mike, uh I guess going to college. You thought you were going to be a doctor? Yep. How'd you end up here?

SPEAKER_03 3:01

Uh I still ask myself that every day. You know, I'm just kidding. The uh I took a job part-time job in a real estate office and I was still going through school, took a part-time job, and I loved doing something different every day. I don't know. I was running errands for their I worked for Irene Pittner. I don't know if you remember Irene, she's been around, was around for years. Uh she's since passed, but she was like the best person to think ever to work for and get started with. That's awesome. I started at the as the market was gone, you know. So that's the fun time to start in real estate back in 07. I was gonna say 07. But it was cool. I got it jumped, hit the ground running, and was doing all their running, learning everything in office hands-on, and I finished school and stayed with real estate. So it's cool. I like doing something different every day. Make my own schedule, obviously. We like that. Um, you can work whatever 90 hours a week you'd like.

SPEAKER_00 3:48

So what did you end up finishing school for?

SPEAKER_03 3:51

Uh I have a uh degree, general degree first, and then we were going to school for b uh biology. So I'm actually a few classes short of a master's.

SPEAKER_00 3:58

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 3:58

We'll see how that goes. Maybe finish one day. We'll see.

SPEAKER_01 4:02

A doctorate in biology in a realtor. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 4:05

That's I I think uh my I always say my retirement career, I'd like to go be like an ER nurse or something like that. So it'd probably be a lot less stressful than this one. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:14

More more than just like it being different day to day, what do you think like was the real draw for you for real estate?

SPEAKER_03 4:21

Like, it's like the biggest purchase of somebody's life buying a house, buying buying an investment property, buying a second home, whatever. Um, that shouldn't be taken lightly. So it's it's cool to watch people's dreams come true with that stuff. I mean, whether it's a first-time buyer, whether it's somebody buying their 10th investment property, it's still growing their portfolio, it's advancing their wealth, and that's literally what this whole life should be about.

SPEAKER_00 4:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:45

Yeah.

unknown 4:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:46

And I think for us too, I think our favorite transaction is like working with first-time homebuyers. Because you just get like, I don't know, man, they just appreciate what you're doing for them so much, you know, and they're they're so dang excited to get in their first home. No. And it is pretty cool, man, when you help somebody kind of attain that American dream, right?

SPEAKER_03 5:03

A lot of that and a lot of military. I mean, the watching military families, you know, actually get a home to settle into, even if they move around, move around and are constantly in rentals, but to watch them actually settle into a house is kind of cool.

SPEAKER_01 5:14

Yeah. Do you work with a lot of military?

SPEAKER_03 5:16

I do. Really? I do. Yeah. That's I started uh back when I was with the RA showcase. Way back in the day, we were CARDIS referrals. So we did a lot of military and things.

SPEAKER_00 5:25

And I would think even if you are military and you move here and then you end up getting stationed somewhere else, like it's just such a good investment while you're here, right? No, we tell people that all the time.

SPEAKER_03 5:33

They'll rent a lot around the country like they're traveling around the world, whatever, but they you you'll see them, they'll want to buy here just for that reason. Yeah, they end up keeping it.

SPEAKER_00 5:40

So all right, man. Well, let's talk about scar a little bit. 2015 and 2019, realtor of the year for Scar. I mean, obviously, I was we're before we even recorded, I told you I was like, I don't know that I've ever been to an event that you weren't at. Or if there's a scar thing going on, our telly's there.

SPEAKER_03 5:59

Yeah, I'm actually going there right after I leave here. We have an event this afternoon. 14 years I've been here every time I go.

SPEAKER_00 6:05

What do you what is what drove drew you to SCAR early on? Because you had been involved for quite a while. And and what keeps you there?

SPEAKER_03 6:11

When I first started selling real estate, they actually discouraged us from volunteering and the the team I work for. At the time, though, I mean, we were busy enough with sales, we didn't really need to, you know, have a lot of extra time. Yeah, part of when I first went on my own as an agent was just encouraged. I asked to volunteer at the board. Um, Lynn Jones actually, I don't know if you Lynn know Lynn, been around forever. Love Lynn Jones. Um she actually asked me to volunteer for a golf tournament here at the Rock Lich Country Club, and I said, showed up, volunteered. We drove a golf cart around, we raised a bunch of money for Special Olympics at the time. And I said, this is kind of cool. Like volunteering is kind of cool. And giving back to a profession that at that point I was still new in, but had given a lot to me already. So um from there it kind of spiraled into you want to do this, you want to do this? Oh, look, I think I think they saw soccer and they just went brand new. But but it it worked out. I mean, it worked out really well. So I started with RPAC way back when, um, and then BCIN when BCIN formed 15 years ago. That was yeah, that was our yeah. Um did Scar create BCIN? Did for our children in need for the city. Yeah, so Louise Louise McLean, um Louise Lorenz now, she actually started that, came up with the idea after watching a dateline special one night and talked to me about it, talked to the board about it, got the board to support, and that was took off. It's much, it's huge now. Yeah, you're 15 now. So I'm no longer chair, thankfully. I did I did my time the first 13 years as either a chair or vice chair, some capacity of some form, but um I still do all the same amount of work. Um I'm still there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's fun. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:45

You know the title responsibility. Exactly. It's nice. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:49

Gotta pass it on. Best of both worlds. Gotta pass it on. So with the BCI and Rivar Children E, were you like kind of a founder?

SPEAKER_03 7:55

Or yeah. So we started, I was there, I was there since day one. Yeah. Um we started that whole thing. And we originally, I think we thought if we get five dollars from every realtor, that'd be really cool. Like that's a that'd be a huge deal. And that first year we think we did 70 grand 75,000, which is way past what we thought was ever gonna happen. Um and then you have last year, where all the way up now, we've I think we've done we're about doing about 150,000 a year. So that's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 8:19

Doing doing really well. I thought I think we've sponsored maybe not the first year. I don't know if we knew about it necessarily the first year, but we've sponsored. Yeah. Um we uh we try to be involved, and I know Diana was on the committee for a while. Um great organization. And like from a business standpoint, it's honestly one of the best events. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:37

I mean you guys have always you guys have always helped. I can always call Diana and ask, you know, hey, I need to do this. Can you call this? Can we do this? You know, I need I need a gift card. What do you got?

SPEAKER_00 8:46

No, we're happy to support, man. I've said it a ton on this podcast. Like this Space Coast Realtor Association has done leaps and bounds for our business. I mean, it's really helped us connect with the commute the you know, the people we want to be connecting with, right?

SPEAKER_03 8:58

Well, that's the I always say with our business partners, um I I go to them first, I go to you guys first. I mean, if you're there supporting us, why wouldn't we support you? Yeah. It would make no sense for us not to. You know what I mean? Um there's a lot of lenders, insurance companies to choose from, but why I mean you're giving back to us, why wouldn't we give back to you? So wake us.

SPEAKER_00 9:16

What are some of the things being with Scar for so long? What do you think are some of like the biggest impacts you've had on the association since you've been there?

SPEAKER_03 9:24

Uh when I started, when I first got into the board itself, I actually decided to run for the board of directors. Um, Leah actually asked me, told me she wanted me to run. And I said, You're insane. That's never gonna happen. Um, and then she said, Well, we need, you know, we need people like you. We need you're you're you know, you're younger at the time. We'll go with younger, it's fine. Um you're younger, we need that type of voice. And I said, All right, well, if I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it. Like we're going all the way. Let's let's do it. So um got in there. It was right when the associations had merged. Melbourne and Scar had finally decided to come together and be one association. Um, but our our biggest thing when I got in was then we had two homes and we needed to figure out how to make it one. Merged, even regardless, we were still Scar and Marr. It was still we had a north and south building, and that's just the way it was. So um developing, going through a year's worth of just trying to find a dang site to put the dang building. Um, that was a mess. And then you find the site, then it was time to design 16,000 square feet of fun. So um, and then seeing all that through to fruition, and I was the first president installed in the building. We moved in like four days before my installation. So it was cool. Now very cool. Seeing all that, seeing all that from start to finish was was pretty awesome. Yeah, yeah. Now seeing it, we're here. Super rewarding.

SPEAKER_00 10:40

Yeah, we're like the best thing that happened to the association.

SPEAKER_03 10:42

Oh, hands down. I mean, we finally we went.

SPEAKER_00 10:44

I remember there was so much infighting in the beginning.

SPEAKER_03 10:47

We went from being two boards. I mean, even when we merged, we were still north-south, north-south. It's always, you know, just kind of had that feeling. Yeah. But as I literally, the day we walked through that door of that building, we there was no more north south. We were all just we were all just scarred. Yeah. So it was kind of cool.

SPEAKER_00 11:01

Cool. Yeah, and it gave you a real good place to have the events.

SPEAKER_03 11:05

Oh yeah. And but we we get people from, I mean, we had people from Miami realtors that now they have a newer building now that's way nicer than ours, but they uh they would come up and visit in Orlando, come visit, and they'd say, This is we don't even have a home like this. Like this is insane. This is crazy. You're hosting your own events. You mean you can see three or four hundred people. You know, you've got all these offices and things. So it's pretty state of the art. We were pretty ahead of the time at that at the time.

SPEAKER_00 11:28

Yeah, and then being at the state level, I mean, you're actually like a a pretty influential person in the realtor association, I would imagine. That's scary. I'm just gonna say, but you know what I mean? Like, no, you know you are. I mean, don't be humble. You probably are sitting at a lot of meetings where like real decisions about the future of this industry are happening, right?

SPEAKER_03 11:45

But that's that's why I started getting involved anyway. Yeah. Especially it's it's been a nightmare the last two years with all the lawsuits and things with NAR. But um, at the same time, you think, God, why did I do this? But you think this is why I did this, just to make sure that they can hear me talking when we're at a table talking about this stuff.

SPEAKER_02 12:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:02

This I this profession, I don't know about everybody else, but I don't plan on doing anything else for a while. So I need it to be around a while. Yeah. Um, so protecting being the voice for our whole profession, realtors, the public, homeowners, everybody. It's it's it's a cool thing to do. Yeah. So it's necessary.

SPEAKER_00 12:17

I would imagine you have realtors that lean on you for compliance stuff and legal stuff, you know, just because you've been around it for so long, you know the ins and outs of everything, probably.

SPEAKER_03 12:25

I'll I'll you know, slightly message people on Facebook. Hey, just so you know, that's you know, I would take that down. I'd just just between you and I, I'd rather you not get a nasty letter from somebody else. It's just here's and here's why. Like it's you know, I'd rather you then get it from me. And yeah, you want to go for a cup of coffee and chocolate. I mean, I don't know. Uh it's awesome, yeah. It's pretty casual. I'd rather do that than a nasty gram.

SPEAKER_01 12:45

Is that how it works? Like if a local realtor posts something that may be whatever it is.

SPEAKER_03 12:50

It's usually it's it usually ends up being like uh using the term realtor wrong. Um it's and it's a copyright thing with NER. Um you see it all the time. It's just people don't know. It's they don't they can't blame them for stuff they don't know. So kind of so can we talk about that actually?

SPEAKER_00 13:05

That brings up a topic that I'm not that familiar with. So there is a difference between like a realtor and a real estate professional. So just because you're a real estate professional doesn't mean that you're a realtor, you have to actually be a member of the board, correct?

SPEAKER_03 13:17

Yes. So the term realtor is owned by the National Association of Realtors. So in order to be a realtor and call yourself a realtor, you've got to be a member. Okay. And then to be a member of NAR, you have to be a member of Florida and of Space Coast. Gotcha. So or another local association.

SPEAKER_01 13:31

So you're saying if you go get your real estate license, you have to then join SCAR to be a real estate professional. Correct. To be a realtor. Yes. So if you're broken, oh yeah, yeah. You can be a real estate professional, but to be a realtor, you have to join Scar. Correct. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 13:42

Yeah, you become a real estate agent when you get the license. So a realtor is actually belongs to the realtor association.

SPEAKER_02 13:47

Cool.

SPEAKER_03 13:48

So and the term realtor is just Mike Artoli realtor. That's true. It's not on the number one Cocoa West reality, you know, and and nobody knows. You know, you know if you don't know the rules with that type of stuff, it's it's you can get in the weeds. So yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:04

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 14:05

But yeah, no, using that term is is uh actually more of a prestigious term. It means you belong to the largest trade association in the world. So we're number one in the world. And Florida's the number one trade association in the country. So is it really? Florida realtors passed California about six years ago, so we're one of the largest ones in the country. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:23

And so uh being a realtor gives you access to MLS, right? That's probably one of the greatest benefits. Um I mean, there's a ton of benefits, so I hate to even say it that way, but it it gets the listings on MLS.

SPEAKER_03 14:36

I count I count MLS as a necessity. It's not really a a benefit. I mean, that's that's part of it. But I mean to me, it's I don't know how it would do it without it. Um now the rest of the stuff is your benefits. So I was tech chair for SCAR for the last two years, um different for this year, but we basically had we're vetted with you know all the new products. I mean, you you know, new stuff come out since we left the house this morning. So you're constantly having to keep ahead. But we would vet the products, bring it to the board, the board would approve and we'd send it to the members, so that's all of the benefits, whether it be virtual tour cafe, m-lost touch, all the stuff we've onboarded in the last couple years. That's those are your association member benefits. Those are those are the things you get for being a member, and to do all those on your own, but you none of us would ever be able to afford it.

SPEAKER_01 15:17

So you guys seek out different tech, or do people come to you? Both stuff. Yeah. That's cool.

SPEAKER_03 15:22

So we the the tech committee's job is just to basically discuss anything that's come before them. Or you know, when we travel to the country or we we go to these different conventions and go to tech shows and things, and we bring that stuff back and vet it. And if it's a good fit, great. A lot of stuff we'll vet and we'll be like, that's not really a good fit for you. Or I don't think our members would use that, but keeping that member package beneficial, yeah. Um let them know that they're not just uh joining the board for the MLS. There's a lot of other features and benefits for you.

SPEAKER_01 15:51

Yeah, yeah, obviously MLS is huge, but yeah. Uh any just we're on the topic, any cool new tech that you can talk about that maybe you're going to implement or vet or so we did just implement Virtual Tork FA.

SPEAKER_03 16:03

Um it's it's we're gonna have a rollout session for that and for MLS Touch. Those are both very cool products for our association. MLS Touch is basically a new MLS-facing app for phone. Okay. Um I don't know if anybody's ever tried to use the Flex app for MLS. It's awful. Sorry.

SPEAKER_00 16:21

Is that is that um do the public have access to look at MLS?

SPEAKER_03 16:26

So MLS Touch is actually uh, you know if I wanted to send it to you as a client, I can send it to you on your phone. It's branded to me as your agent. Um it's got all kinds of it's basically a realtor.com Mozilla or something like that, but in in branded to us. Gotcha. Branded to the realtor. So and it's free to members, so it's kind of cool. They they can save properties, they can they can stage furniture, photos. I mean, like they can put everything in there. It's it's awesome. It's like start to finish. It's really cool. Again, it's one of those things if we don't tell the members what it is, show them what it is, they're not gonna use it as much as we want them to. So that's the rollout has to happen after and make sure everybody understands. So that's where we're at right now with this. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:02

Cool. Um Yeah, and you I mean, honestly, with tech, if you're not continually in it, if you're not evolving constantly, it's you're you're behind, right? It's moving so fast.

SPEAKER_03 17:12

I feel like the last two years, like it's it's moved faster than the last 15 months. It's just gonna get worse too. With MI and stuff moving so quick with tech, too. So I don't I don't I don't I I say that I'm not the worst Lindsay's the worst millennial, but I'm I'm not the worst millennial with tech, but I am. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:28

Like I consider myself kind of a techie, but it's moving so fast that it's blown by me. I can't keep up. Like you know, I did all this podcast stuff myself and I researched all this, and I can I can do this kind of stuff, but it's just moving at a rate where like every time I turn on my phone, it's trying to sell me some new AI or some new feature or something, and I'm just like, dude, I'm good. Like you know, it's like just a lot of people.

SPEAKER_01 17:52

Well, it's like once you learn about one thing, we mastered it, and then something newer and better comes out, but you have to learn it.

SPEAKER_03 17:58

Yeah, that's where I'm at. I'm not actually bad at it. I'm just behind. I feel like you're always behind. Correct. You are. I mean, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:04

Who's got the time to learn all that stuff, each one? You know?

SPEAKER_00 18:06

Trevor Burrus, Jr.: Well, the older I get, the harder it is. Or you do. We have to.

SPEAKER_01 18:10

Yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_00 18:11

You know, you get kind of stuck. Like I'm 45 now, man. You get stuck like doing the things the way you do it, and then all of a sudden all this new tech's out, and you're like, man, I got to freaking brush off the dust a little bit and get you know, because but it's so hard to keep up with.

SPEAKER_03 18:24

Yep. Trevor Burrus, Jr. It's it's definitely changes every day. So I try to keep up. It's good. I have a 16-year-old too, so he keeps me up with a lot of it, too.

SPEAKER_00 18:33

So with tech, I mean, obviously, like that's a huge thing on the horizon for real estate, and it's something that you guys are constantly probably battling in some ways. Like is there a fear? Like, what's the fear in the real estate industry of what tech's gonna do, right? Like, is there a fear that with AI and the and you know, there's gonna be more like consumers having ability to do things, right? And there's I'm sure there's a fear of like agents getting cut out of stuff and all that. Um what does that look like? I'm sure those conversations are happening. And you know, I personally feel, just before we talk about, I personally feel like the realtor will always be important in the transaction because people are going to need somebody to open the door, right? And need somebody to like help just navigate all the different nuances. They're gonna need a professional in their corner. I think it will be hard to get the computer to that point.

SPEAKER_03 19:30

It's about it's about showing your worth, making sure people understand why you should be part of the transaction instead of just you're gonna have a lot of agents that come and go. You have a lot of agents that will take a transaction, they'll get a lead, sell it, we're on to the next. That's not how this business works. You know that on your side, we know that on our side. You've got to build the repertoire, you've got to build the longevity, otherwise you're gonna your funnel runs dry. Yeah. Um those type agents, yeah, those should probably be concerned. Um I mean, you're gonna you're gonna have issues. Yeah, things are changing. There's more access for people to do it without an agent. I mean, we hate to say it, but there's they can if it's possible. Why would you? I don't know. Yeah, um, the agent protects you from a lot of things, you get a lot of benefits, and then you got that person in your corner for life well after the transaction, too. So it's all it's a whole package. You've got to make sure you show actually why you belong in the code.

SPEAKER_00 20:20

Yeah, you have to you have to give true value now.

SPEAKER_03 20:22

Absolutely. You gotta make sure, and that's your your association. Um that's literally what every tool is designed for, is to make sure that that agent has from you know A to B has every tool necessary to be able to take care of their clients, not during the transaction, but after, before the whole thing. So I don't know, man.

SPEAKER_00 20:42

Like tech, it's moving so fast and it's so hard to predict what five years, ten years from now looks, you know, for for the real estate industry. But I think like if you guys continue to embrace the tech and use it as a tool to add value, right? Um I think that's the key, like you're saying. It makes our jobs easier.

SPEAKER_03 21:00

Yeah. I mean, I hate it gives us time to do other things that don't aren't as easy. But I mean, you've got all this tech that helps write ads and helps you know, makes me appear in a video that I never even shot. You know what I mean? It's it's as long as you know how to use those and harness those, you can do other things.

SPEAKER_00 21:16

But even if you just go online and you look at listings, you can kind of look at different realtors' listings and see who's really putting value into their client. You know what I mean? Whether it's professional photos, staging, um, the way they advertise the property. I mean, there's a lot that goes into what you guys do that people don't really think about, you know? Yeah. Um and in a lot of ways, there's a lot of transactions where you guys work for free. Right? I work I work for free all the time. But you know what I mean? Like that's just how it that's how the business is.

SPEAKER_03 21:53

And so um it's relationship building though. Correct. That's the thing. I mean if somebody calls me and doesn't actually end up buying a house and I've helped them, you know, I don't I've helped people write a lease or you know review a lease for their client and they're like they've never used me before in their life, but uh that one person may tell somebody down the road, hey. Remember Mike Mike helped me and he didn't have to help me and that type of stuff. So it's all relationship building.

SPEAKER_00 22:15

We're a thousand percent on our lease in insurance, we're a thousand percent relationship business. We're really selling the relationship. Because at the end of the day, you don't get a cool car when you buy from a you don't get you know some shiny object that you get to put on your mantle. You get a piece of paper with an insurance policy that you don't really want. And then you know what I mean? And so really for us, it's like we're building a customer experience. Yeah. Yeah. You know what I mean? And making sure our customer experience is solid. You know what I mean? And that's really all we kind of think about is what's our customer experience when they call here? What's the experience when we're going back and forth in email and presenting the quote? You know, all these things that set us apart, I think. Um, because we're in a relationship business. Yeah, we're not really in the insurance business.

SPEAKER_03 23:00

Agents don't think about the whole process. They don't think about being in the other side of the transaction. What is this person thinking right now? So you gotta remember first-time buyer is completely different than somebody who's bought 10 homes, who's on their hundredth home, who's single, married, divorced, widowed. You gotta digest each one differently and make sure that you think, hey, what is this person, what is this person actually thinking right now? Yeah. I need I need to be ahead of what they're thinking. Correct. Make sure that they understand what's coming. They understand, you know, this is this is correct in the transaction, this is not correct. Let's, you know, take care of them and hold their hand all the way through. That's that's why we'll be involved in the transaction forever. So if not, then you're not gonna be that successful at it around for a long time either. My kids are expensive. I gotta do this for a long time.

SPEAKER_00 23:43

I mean, so one of the things that I've noticed in the industry really over the past year or maybe two years is there seems to be like a consolidation going on in the industry where your brokerages are getting larger, um, like the smaller brokerages are becoming less and less, I guess, right? And and um you're seeing like a real consolidation in the industry. And I know you guys are going through that right now, so you you want to touch on that a little bit?

SPEAKER_03 24:11

Yeah, I mean we have a lot of lot of really successful small brokerages. So we don't knock those at all. Um those are those are great. You got the mom and pop, so you have a lot of people that will only deal with those. Yeah. But as far as like the bigger companies, the franchises and things, yeah, there's been a lot of consolidation. Um we've had you know compass with Century 21 and Coldwell, and then recently with Real and EXP, uh Real and Remax. And then I think actually more recent was EXP acquiring next home. That was just like three or four days ago. So it's it's consolidation. It's just a lot of you'll I think you'll see a lot more of that where we're headed.

SPEAKER_02 24:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:42

Um, to me, I don't think it's a bad thing. Um I I'm a Remax agent. I I bled Remax for how many years now? I love Remax. Um, Remax comes with one of the most successful, recognizable names in the world.

SPEAKER_02 24:54

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:54

Real actually purchased Remax, which was an an odd thing to happen. Everybody kind of went, wait, what just happened here?

SPEAKER_02 24:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 25:00

Um, it was a much smaller company taking over the bigger one. We're each going to maintain our brand identity, but for me, it's I'll get their technology for us, they get our reputation and all of that stuff. So I don't think it's a bad thing for anybody. You just have to kind of embrace what's changed and the negotiability power negotiability. Is that a word? I don't know. Yeah. The power to negotiate. There it is. There uh that that becomes a lot greater when you have a much bigger company. I mean, you get you know, we have associations that are merging together. We look how that worked out for us. Miami and Fort Lauderdale just merged together and make the largest real estate association in the country now. Um, but that it just brings more services to the members, more services to your customers, more services to the agents. I mean, that's I see no downside. Yeah. Um, I don't see anybody's names changing, anything like that. It's just you're you maintain your identity you've always had. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:48

And uh I would imagine the bigger brokerages, as they're looking into the future, they're they're seeing like we we need to consolidate, we need to be bigger so we can offer better splits and better stuff to our agents and things like that as we as we grow. Um I just think from a financial standpoint, obviously it makes more sense for the bigger guys to make sure they're getting bigger.

SPEAKER_03 26:09

Yeah. I mean, and then with the world of lawsuits we've been in with NAR and things, it's and and with all of the larger franchises, they all got sued at the same time as everybody else. And uh a lot of them had to pay out and things. It's just it's makes more sense to consolidate at a certain point. So I think we'll see a lot more of that coming. Um and you can see read a lot of the NAR reports on that. There's they see it too.

SPEAKER_01 26:29

So the smaller businesses do that to protect themselves better, I guess? You know, consolidate with larger so they have more access to protection, I guess.

SPEAKER_03 26:38

Some do, some don't. At the end of the day, it's it's uh you selling yourself as an agent. I'm not I I should never just be Mike with Remax. That's I mean, I I love I love my company, I love where I've been, but I'm Mike. You're my business. I'm it's my job to sell myself as an agent. Absolutely. The company's just there for support and services. Yeah. Same thing with the association. I mean, it's your you're I'm Mike. I'm not you know, I'm not Scar, I'm not Mike, I'm not Remax, I'm just I'm Mike. You want to let me sell your house.

SPEAKER_00 27:05

I would think for most I would think for most agents, you're right. It's almost like you have your own business within the business, right?

SPEAKER_03 27:11

I mean, it's um we wake up every day unemployed. Yeah. Right? I mean that's essentially what that I don't get to check unless I'm hard working and busting my butt, you know.

SPEAKER_00 27:20

Yeah, you wake up every day having to sell yourself.

SPEAKER_03 27:21

Wake up every day unemployed. I hate to say that. That's how somebody told me that years ago, and I've always thought that. Oh man, I gotta go get a job.

SPEAKER_01 27:28

I mean, I've always treated my business that way here in the office. You know, Bright Way is our franchise owner, receives the owner of the franchise, whatever, but I'm it's me.

SPEAKER_03 27:36

It's me. Yeah. Yeah, because I mean I'm you know, no offense to wherever I'm at, but uh, you know, if I were to leave tomorrow, I it's still Mike. I'm still Mike. It's I'm still providing the same level of service. I'm still the back end may change, the the services that come with me and things, that's that's where you have the support from.

SPEAKER_00 27:51

So that's a great way to look at it on our side too, Jack, because I mean, really, like I'm just really a brokerage and Jason's hanging his license here and selling insurance, you know what I mean? Yeah. Um it's kind of the same really type of model.

SPEAKER_03 28:05

But he trusts you in what you're providing. You trust Brightway with what they provide. This is you know, this is where your all the relationships come into play.

SPEAKER_01 28:12

Provided the support for my business to flourish, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:15

And a lot of our uh a lot of our small brokers, they're successful because they are their own mindset. They don't, you know, they don't need the the support system that comes from having somebody just hand you, you know, a CRM of all this stuff. They like doing that on their own, and that's what makes them successful. I mean some of the most successful stuff in their accounting is independent brokerages.

SPEAKER_00 28:32

Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 28:35

You'll see a lot more of that though. Yeah. The consolidation stuff. I mean, just in the last three weeks, we've had half the franchise brands consolidate. It's crazy.

unknown 28:43

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 28:44

Was that like on the horizon where everybody was expecting it? Like it was talks a long time ago and it finally came out. I feel like you guys like woke up to that news, right? I was gonna say it feels like it was out of news. I had no idea.

SPEAKER_00 28:54

So even at the I mean, you're pretty involved, even at like high in the association.

SPEAKER_03 28:59

Yeah, to be fair, I don't I I don't really pay attention to that stuff. That doesn't really I think it would I think it was a shock at the when we found it out. I think it was more a shock that you know this smaller newer company bought a very much larger, right, well-established worldwide company. So that was more of the shock. I think that kind of took everybody surprise. But I mean for me, I was like, Yeah, it's not gonna change your own. I was like, we're we're still selling houses today, guys. Like this let's let's move on. Let's you guys tell me if I need to change my sign.

SPEAKER_00 29:27

How many realtors are there in the county? Uh we are just under 6,000. So what what sets Mike Artelli apart from the other 6,000? I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 29:37

Um I keep up with everything. Yeah market trends, what's going on in the industry. I mean, I obviously I have to for being on certain boards, but I tried to I've done that even prior to. I want to I, you know, what's what's coming to Titusville? What's coming to Cocoa? Are there new businesses coming? Are we considering stuff? What's going on that piece of land over there? That type of thing. I was born and raised here, so I have connections that run pretty deep. Yeah. My dad used to be a superintendent for City Cocoa Water Department. Wow. My grandfather was a lieutenant for Cocoa Fire Department. Um, I mean, that's we run deep here. I mean, born and raised connections, yeah. Connection. I went went to Orlando, went to school, came right back. I I hated it there.

SPEAKER_02 30:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:15

I don't ever go to the beach, but I like being close to the beach. I like to know that the beach is right there. Yeah. Don't step foot on the beach, but I'm the same way.

SPEAKER_00 30:20

I mean, dude, I actually have my favorite towns. And like when we vacation, I love vacationing in beach towns. Yeah. Like that's where we go. Yeah. But I don't like the beach. Like, I just love the atmosphere of beach communities. Yeah, oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:34

I don't I don't swim where the sharks live and they don't swim where I live. That's what I thought that would. No, but that's I I uh yeah, true local. Like I I my insight, my knowledge of our area is is crazy. I I hate to say that. Like, I mean, you asked me for any recommendation for anybody. I contact you want to meet somebody, I I got you. Like that's the way it's gonna be. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:52

So what's your favorite restaurant?

SPEAKER_03 30:54

Ooh. Okay, so I guess I have to say coconuts on the beach because that's where my other half manages. Okay. I do like coconuts. We actually went there yesterday. But no, I think my favorite to uh still so many good ones. Yeah, still. I like finding an olive in Titusville. Okay. If you want something off the beaten path. I mean it's Titusville. You know, we we all love Titusville, but they uh they it's very uh you walk in and you go, you're like, I'm am I still in Titusville? Like you feel like you're some other place, but they've got 24 wines on tap too, which helps. That's a cool place. Have you eaten at Native in Titusville? I have actually the same owners as well. No, it's actually I almost was gonna say native because I like their food better than native, okay.

SPEAKER_00 31:32

I'll have to check it out there.

SPEAKER_03 31:34

Oh man, it's great.

SPEAKER_01 31:35

It's super fairly priced. Drinks are great, food's really good.

SPEAKER_03 31:38

They have a they have a mozzarella cheese stick thing that's like chicken fried battered. It's like this big. Yeah. You'll never eat anything again.

SPEAKER_01 31:47

Oh, it's so good. Their food's you would really like it. Yeah, check it out.

SPEAKER_00 31:50

Me and Diana are always looking for something different.

SPEAKER_03 31:52

They got the Dave's Orange Julius recipe from the original Dave's that was in Miracle City Mall. And they make them at the bar now with they'll put vodka in with you. They're pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 32:02

Oh, they're so good. That's a free product for NATO.

SPEAKER_03 32:04

I forgot all about NATO.

SPEAKER_00 32:06

Man, I we me and Diana just ate at uh Cafe Margot for our anniversary the other night. And that's kind of been off my radar for a while. That place is fantastic. I forget it's in there. Yeah. Yeah. I forget it's in there. It's tucked away. But man, I tell you what, dude, the food was top notch. I mean, it was really, really good. Like I was we left there like, why don't we come here more? Like this place is amazing. I always forget it's even back there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:30

Yeah. Milp was good too. If you've been in there, yes. For like a quick happy hour and get one, two, however many tacos you want, you know. So many good spots. That's what I'm like. How do you pick?

SPEAKER_01 32:41

And there, you know, I feel like Brevard is split into two. You got your Melbourne area, then you got up here. Like Pineta Causeway, anything south. I would never go down there. I never know. Yeah, I don't know much about Melbourne.

SPEAKER_03 32:53

It was Pine. Why do you think we built where we did? Yeah. I mean, it just is that way because Brevard is so big. The dividing line for Scar and Marr used to be Pinita. That was the division line. So we're like, we were like, where can we build a building? How about right on Pinita?

SPEAKER_00 33:07

So I want to I I want to know if you do the same thing as me. So when you're with your husband or what, do you uh when you're driving around, are you like, oh, I sold that house, I sold that house, I sold that house. Like we I do that with Diana all the time where we're driving around and I'm like, I think he just tones it out at this point.

SPEAKER_01 33:24

We insure that. We insure that. I was just saying insurance or like if the customer is really nice.

SPEAKER_03 33:31

How are they having it tones of that? That's a hypocrisy. He tones it out after a certain while. It's like being like being in the grocery store. We can't ever go in a grocery store without running into somebody I've sold a house to or helped with a house, like somebody at this point. Like and I grew up here, so it just keeps getting worse. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, I actually I had moved away from Port St. John. I grew up in Port St. John and moved away for a long time, lived in Mims, lived in Maryland. I just moved back to Port St. John and now I'm like back to my own grocery store. Now I'm seeing like the same people I went to high school with, but like I'm like, this is just, I don't know. It's you get a lot more. Yeah, but he's the same way. I'm like, yeah, oh yeah, I sold the house. Oh, that person over there, yeah. And I can name off addresses, like I can write off every house I've sold. That's interesting.

SPEAKER_00 34:13

But yeah, and then sometimes Dino'd be like, yeah, you've told me that 10 times. Yeah. Interesting.

SPEAKER_03 34:21

He won't he won't say that. He'll he just won't listen. Uh-huh. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:27

Sure. Sure. Before we end, definitely want to talk a little bit more about Brevard Children in E, because I think it's a super powerful thing that you were one of the kind of original people around. I kind of want to just do a deep dive into what there it's actually doing for children in Brevard. And so when we raise all this money, kind of what happens and and what kind of impact is it making?

SPEAKER_03 34:48

So when we started uh BCIN was with the Schools Foundation back 15 years ago, the um we used their 501c3 basically to raise the money under. Um we didn't have one due to their expensive to start, and we didn't we had no idea what we were doing. So we kind of raised for money, I think it's the first seven years, six, seven years, something like that. Out of that, though, unfortunately, you have admin costs. So, you know, when they then we'd give them a dollar at 88 cents, whatever it was, went to where it should be. Still great. We raised a lot of money, we helped a lot of people. Um scar actually finally said, you know, we went to the board and said, hey, we want our own foundation, we want to control where the money goes. One, um, because we can earmark it when we give it somewhere else, but you lose it once you it loses your hands, and to see where it actually you know manifests itself, make sure it goes to where it's supposed to be. Um scar actually put up the money to form the foundation, had actually come out of their budget, so it wasn't any cost out of any money raised, anything like that. Um it's a very expensive to form a 501c3 in Florida. So um that started. And ever since we SCAR has actually on the realtor side covered every penny of cost for the foundation itself. So every penny of every dollar since its inception has gone where it needs to go and stays right here in Brevard, doesn't leave, doesn't go anywhere. There's a board of directors that's separate for the foundation. Uh it's five members on the board. They approve grant requests for other 501c3s, and they have to be housing, homelessness, children-based related. And um, yeah, they're pretty well vetted and go through all that.

SPEAKER_00 36:16

So I remember uh a check being delivered maybe to the sheriff. Yes. And and uh and what was that and kind of are they still doing that program?

SPEAKER_03 36:25

So we do um every year since we did the start at the gala, we've done uh Money for Shop with the Cop, where they take kids at Christmas, they'll take them around and let them buy Christmas gifts for their family or whatnot. Um but we've done we've always given them a check at the gala. And it was part of actually when we started, it was part of one of the bigger ones we gave. Now it's one of the smaller ones we support. But um it started with getting them involved with coming to the gala, getting the sheriff there, making sure that either a sheriff or a representative was there to get a check. Um, and you know, see, hey, this is a way that we're helping back. Yeah. Uh or giving back. It was it's hard to get people in that room to listen. This is, you know, we've been there, it's a big party, it's fun. We don't want to hinder the party, but we want to make sure that people see this is why we're here. Yeah, I was gonna say there's just something tangible for you to see this is what we're helping. Um, and I think you'll see a lot with this year's gala, they're going back to why we're doing this, and we're actually gonna have a lot more of uh a lot more of that type of stuff. That's a really good idea.

SPEAKER_00 37:18

There's a lot of it too, like providing or trying to help maybe homeless families or you know, get into housing and stuff like that, right?

SPEAKER_03 37:27

Yeah, so the our our scope of the foundation was written based on uh famil children and families in need. That's basically what BCIN was written for. So if it doesn't fall under that purvey, we can't really it's not something we can help. You know, there's a million organizations we help here. Um it's you know it's tough to kind of pick and choose, but that's what that board of directors does. You don't want to ever risk the status of the foundation either by you know supporting something that falls outside the scope. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Or or mislead any donors or anybody that ever gives. We want to make sure that they know that that money's staying exactly where it says it's going. And it's every penny of every dollar now.

SPEAKER_01 38:00

Not to put you on the spot, do you know how many families you've helped in the last 15 years? Rough estimate.

SPEAKER_03 38:05

Really rough. Well, so I mean, you've got uh because all these other organizations that we support with this money and they go on and help families do that is tough. Yeah, it's it would be tough to even you're talking thousands of. That's awesome. We give I mean, I served as uh chairman of the board for Family Promise for the last two years up until up until last year. Yeah. So and that was just one of the organizations I was introduced to through BCIN. And when I came off the board there, I decided I was gonna go serve on this board over here and just them alone. I mean, when they give them a grant of even five, ten thousand, they they get that as matched funds and they'll turn it into sixty, seventy thousand. Oh my gosh. And that can help. I mean, you're talking thousands of that's so cool to hear. It's yeah, it's cool. Stuff like that that we like to support. We have we meet next week. Actually, we meet tomorrow. Uh the foundation meets, we'll review grant requests. I think we've got six or seven this this quarter. Um, and then we either approve them, deny them, ask for more info, we can give you know, take the amount up, down whatever we decide to fit. So it's really cool. That's really cool to do. A lot of control like on our end to where we can actually see where it's going. But it helps too when we're doing reports and things back to people who like to donate. I mean, they need to know where it's going, you know. We're responsible for you. You give us 100 bucks, we need to tell you where it's going. Yeah. Make sure that it goes where we told you it was gonna go.

SPEAKER_01 39:20

That's awesome. Very cool.

SPEAKER_03 39:22

Puts a softer look on the Realtor Association too. And we don't do it for praise or recognition or anything like that, but we want to make sure that everybody knows that realtors aren't just here to collect a check at the end of the day. You guys aren't either. We're we're we're here to support the community and make sure that we're giving back as much as we can.

SPEAKER_00 39:36

Oh yeah. I love it. That's great, man. Yeah, and it's just uh it's just a great way to be involved in the community too, right? And for us, like it's just it's just a great way for us to, like you said, give back and to get involved and build the connections. Build the connections, absolutely. Um there's a business side to it for us, but also I mean we we just feel really good about doing it.

SPEAKER_03 40:00

Yeah, you know, for sure. It's all about who you meet through the process. I mean, I I know a lot of people here, but I meet new people every day doing volunteer work, doing stuff like that.

SPEAKER_00 40:09

Yeah, it's like as you're kind of giving back to the community and you're doing these things, uh again, you're you're creating relationships. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 40:15

We were in uh we were in, oh god, this was years ago, but we were in uh Coles and Vieira, and I remember my my other half. I'm walking past Howie D. He's local, it's a Backstreet Boy, lives local, but not everybody knows he lives local, you know. We're walking past he and he's I don't make a big deal, I just kind of wave because we know each other. He says, Mike, what's going on, man? How are you? My my other half as we walked Vegas, you on a first name basis with the Backstreet Boy? How do you honestly? Howie. I'm like, I'm like, oh, Howie? Like, I don't think about it that way, but that's the stuff, these are the people you meet. These are people I've met through BCIN. This is our you know connections in the community. But I'm just like, hey, he's like, Mike, you know, I don't think about it. Yeah, that was a that was a Backstreet boy. You knew your name. That's really cool. And I'm like, I don't know if you'd ask me my last name, you probably don't know it, but that's a good mic. It's cool. It's all about who you know, who you meet, who you know, who you make connections with.

SPEAKER_00 41:07

So as you as you built these relationships, have you found so you've been what real estate 19 years, right? So over 19 years, do you find that real estate is getting easier for you because you're building a snowball of relationships? You know what I mean? Or is it is it just constant grind, constant it's changing all the time, and you're constantly having to uh uh uh evolve and adapt, right? I mean both of issues every year, right?

SPEAKER_03 41:33

Yeah, every year. Yeah, every year, every day. No, I think the the business itself gets easier because you have more people saying, use mic, use mic, use mic. That's that's that part of it. As you establish your partner, but keeping up with why we are using mic, that's the hard part. So we go back to the AI and tech and all that other stuff that you've got to keep. And maintaining the same level of customer service. Yeah. I'm you know, I'm I'm not old, but I'm getting older, and you get more tired. You don't want to do all this stuff every day, but you gotta maintain that same level that people have gotten accustomed to. So you start slacking off, they're gonna start sending them somebody else. That's a good point.

SPEAKER_01 42:09

Very good point.

SPEAKER_03 42:10

So that's the way it goes. Very good point. But yeah, no, I I'm only referral-based. I've never bought a lead. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I think there's a lot of businesses that are built off that, but I've never needed to because of my connections here in Brevard. That's just the way I've the way that it's gone. So I gotta keep those connections happy.

SPEAKER_00 42:26

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. It's I think successful. Yes, it's all reputation. Gotta keep it going. So before we end, man, uh how do uh how do people get a hold of Mike? Any which way possible?

SPEAKER_03 42:37

Type in Mike Artellio, pull my my number, my email, my house address, everything's on there. No, I mean anybody can get a hold of me anytime. Okay. I have agents that'll have never met me that'll see me at meetings. I have agents that think they've met me because I was in front of them as their president and they think that they know me on a person basis. I don't know everybody's name. I feel I would love nothing more than to know all 6,000 villagers' names in Brevard. No possible. Uh it's just not possible. But I'm pretty approachable. So I mean anybody can call me, ask me questions. I don't I just had one lady last night message me on Facebook ask me a question about uh NAR just because she saw I was a director. So I mean, I have no problem anytime. I'll tell you if I'm busy, I'll tell you when I'll call you back. But other than that, call me, let me know.

SPEAKER_00 43:17

Well, Mike, man, we really appreciate you coming in. We appreciate everything you're doing for the association. Um again, the association is a big part of our business. So um, you know, the fact that you're representing the association at such a high level, it means a lot to us because it does have an impact on us at the end of the day. So um, we appreciate you. Thank you. Really good at what you do, man, and uh you're one of the good guys. So appreciate the support for everything too. Thank you. Awesome. Thanks. That's a wrap for this episode of the Studio 321 Podcast, powered by Frightway, the Steve Trout Agency. We can't thank you enough for being part of our journey. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe, leave us a review, and share it with a friend. Until next time, 321, we're out.